U.S. SETTLES WITH UCSD STUDENT

$4.1 million payout to man who was left in detention for five days, his lawyer says

Daniel Chong, the self-confessed pot smoker who was caught up in a drug sweep last year and nearly died after federal agents inadvertently abandoned him in a holding cell for five days without food or water, is now a millionaire.

Attorney Eugene Iredale announced Tuesday a $4.1 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, without even filing a lawsuit.

“What happened to Daniel Chong should never happen to any human being on the face of the planet,” Iredale said.

The incident made headlines across the globe and sparked a debate about drug policies in the United States.

In addition to the cash payment, the lawyer said federal officials agreed to adopt new detainee procedures designed to make sure no one is left unwittingly in a holding cell again.

Iredale said he also was told the temporary lockups inside the San Diego office have been equipped with cameras to allow agents to view what happens inside.

The Justice Department, which paid the settlement and absorbed all other liability from the local police agencies assisting in the sweep, declined Tuesday to discuss the events or the multimillion-dollar payment.

The harrowing experience for Chong, 25, an engineering major at UC San Diego, began on a Friday night in 2012 when he admittedly went to some friends’ house in University City to celebrate April 20, a special date for marijuana users.

Chong didn’t know it at the time, but the home had been under surveillance by a federal narcotics task force.

Drug agents executed a search warrant early in the morning of April 21, Among other things, they found 18,000 ecstasy pills, marijuana and several weapons in the residence, according to court papers.

The agents also found Chong sleeping on a couch in the front room and transported him and six others to the San Diego field office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for follow-up interviews.

Chong said he answered all of the agents’ questions and they agreed to send him home without criminal charges. But instead he was returned to a temporary holding cell, where he spent the next four days without food or water. During the final two days of the ordeal, Chong was in complete darkness, he said.

He has said he became delirious, drank his own urine, ate the broken shards of his glasses and used the glass to cut the message “sorry mom” in his own forearm.

He said he kicked the door and screamed for help, but agents never came to his assistance. DEA agents admitted later they “accidentally” left Chong in the cell and took the unusual step of apologizing publicly to the UCSD student.

“When they finally opened the door, I was happy,” Chong said Tuesday. “I thought maybe they were going to take me to a mental ward. I was screaming.”

Chong spent five days at Sharp Memorial Hospital in Kearny Mesa before he was able to return home.

Although his lawyer said Chong still suffers from post-traumatic stress, Chong indicated he is doing better overall.